Renewed hostilities began on the 26 July 2006, when Sri Lanka Air Force fighter jets bombed several LTTE camps around Mavil Aru anicut.

Shutting down the sluice gates of the Mavil Aru on July 21 depriving the water to over 15,000 people - Sinhalese and Muslim settlers under Sri Lankan state-sponsored colonisation schemes in Trincomalee district.

Continued fighting led to several territorial gains for the Sri Lankan Army, including the capture of Sampur, Vakarai and other parts of the east.

The elections held on 5 December 2001 saw a sweeping victory for the United National Front, led by Ranil Wickremasinghe, who campaigned on a pro-peace platform and pledged to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict.

[6] The new government welcomed the move, and reciprocated it 2 days later, announcing a month-long ceasefire and agreeing to lift a long-standing economic embargo on rebel-held territory.

Many foreign countries also offered substantial financial support if peace was achieved and optimism grew that an end to the decades long conflict was in sight.

[11] A new crisis leading to the first large-scale fighting since signing of the ceasefire occurred in 2006 when the LTTE closed the sluice gates of the Mavil Aru reservoir on July 21 and cut the water supply to 15,000 villages in government controlled areas.

The government military claimed the total control of the eastern province after capturing the Thoppigala (Baron's cap) on July 11, 2007 following nearly a year of fighting.

[22] Karuna has also been accused of gross human rights violations such as forming death squads,[23] harassing journalists,[23] extrajudicial killings,[24] abductions,[25] and the use of child soldiers against the LTTE.

[32] On January 2, 2008, The Sri Lankan government unanimously decided to formally withdraw from the ceasefire with the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, which had existed only on paper over the past two years.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake had proposed that the cabinet annul the truce after yet another bomb blast went off on January 2 in the capital, Colombo, killing five and injuring over 28.

The LTTE used a force of 400 to 500 fighters in the attacks which consisted of land and amphibious assaults, and also fired a barrage of artillery at government positions, including the key military airbase at Palali.

During clashes in the Forward Defence Lines, separating their forces, both sides exchange heavy artillery fire, after which military incursions follow.

On January 5, 2008 Col. Charles, Head of LTTE Military Intelligence, was killed in claymore ambush by a suspected Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit according to a Pro-LTTE website.

[45] On March 22, 2008, a Navy fast attack boat was destroyed after it hit a suspected sea mine laid by Tamil Tiger rebels off the country's north-east coast.

On April 26, Sri Lanka's air defenses in Colombo fired into the sky following reports that unidentified aircraft had been spotted on radar.

However, a few days later on the early morning of April 29, while the entire nation was watching the Cricket World Cup Final a Tiger aircraft bombed two fuel storage facilities outside Colombo.

Although the government played down the attack, Shell's Sri Lankan country director, Hassan Madan, told the AFP "There was big damage to our fire-fighting facility and we estimate it will cost us in excess of 75 m rupees ($700,000) to put things back".

On October 22, 2007, Air Tigers launched a pre-dawn combined arms assault on a SLAF airbase at Anuradhapura, about 212 kilometers (132 mi) north of the capital, Colombo.

This final battle claimed the lives of several top LTTE leaders, including Jeyam, Bhanu, Lawrence, Pappa, Laxamanan, Balasingham Nadesan, Pottu Amman, Soosai and Velupillai Prabhakaran who was reported to have attempted to flee.

[52] On the morning of the 19th, soldiers of the 4th Vijayabahu infantry regiment led by Lt. Col Rohitha Aluvihare claimed to have found the body of Prabhakaran, and so militarily ending a separatist war that had defined Sri Lanka's history for three decades.

[53] Amnesty International has also stated that increasing violence was forcing many Sri Lankans to flee the country and that more than 2,800 people had sought shelter in India this year.

[73][66][74] After the International Council of Red Cross, doctors and government officials left the war zone, only the Catholic priests remained with people until the end.